Healthcare Organizations Ask Congress to Ease Medicare Cuts
Last week, APTQI signed on to a letter urging Congressional leadership to help lessen the impact of the planned, deep Medicare payment cuts in the Medicare Proposed Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) Rule for CY2022.
The letter, signed by dozens of organizations representing over one million physician and non-physician health care providers, thanked Congress for offering a temporary reprieve from the cuts in 2021 by allowing for a 3.75% Conversion Factor increase for all services and recognized that a more permanent solution is needed.
“Unfortunately, this temporary measure did not address the ongoing structural problems with the MPFS, and the provider community is again bracing for steep cuts in 2022, which could result in many beneficiaries losing timely access to essential health care services. To avoid this scenario, our organizations urge Congress to maintain the 3.75% increase to the CF through at least calendar years 2022 and 2023,” the letter states.
While Congress can help to address some of the long-term challenges in the Medicare payment policy, there is also still an opportunity for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to change course and not finalize the proposal that will continue these cuts.
CMS is now accepting public comments on this proposed rule, and they need to hear from physical, occupational and speech therapists like you about our concerns regarding this drastic cut.